Grand Theft Auto V is now over a year and a half old, but such is its success that its release on the PC has garnered a significant amount of anticipation.

Unfortunately, its release today has, for some users, been a gigantic, colossal mess. Apparently, users with Windows usernames that include characters besides standard alphabets and numbers have found themselves unable to play or even install Grand Theft Auto V. How on earth something like that can cause an entire game to simply not work is truly dumbfounding, but there it is.

The issue is apparently widespread enough to warrant a fairly lengthy pop-up update that appears when users open Steam. This notice, in its entirety, reads:

Dear Steam Customer,

We recently learned of an issue that can impact players attempting to install Grand Theft Auto V on Windows PCs. For those experiencing this issue, you have three options available to you at this time.

First, Rockstar Games intends to have a fix for this issue soon.

Second, customers can try the manual work around detailed below.

Third, if neither of the above works for you, the self-refund tool will continue to be available until the official fix is released.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience.

Please see below for more information from Rockstar Games, including details on the manual workaround.

The Steam Team

We have identified an issue where players with Windows usernames that include characters not found in the table at the bottom of this page will likely run into difficulties when attempting to download, install, or play GTAV. We are currently working on a fix for this issue.

If you do not want to wait for a fix, you need to create a new AdministratorUser Account for your Windows system that only includes letters A to Z, a to z or numbers 0-9 from the basic roman alphabet. For a full list of supported characters, see the table at the bottom of this page. Please note that simply renaming your current User Account will not correct this issue. To create the account, follow these instructions from the Microsoft website:

• Windows 8/8.1:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-user-account#create-user-account=windows-8

• Windows 7:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-user-account#create-user-account=windows-7

• Windows Vista:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-user-account#create-user-account=windows-vista

We will update this support article with any new information as soon as we have it, including expected timing of a fix and whether you will be able to transfer progress on the newly-created Windows username over to your original Windows user account.

If you would like to receive an automatic update via email when there is more information about a fix, please log into the Support Site and click Subscribe at the top of this page.

Supported Characters At Launch for Windows Usernames for GTAV PC

• A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
• 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9